Portland, ME - New Construction Continued

I'll link to it later, but the article in The Forecaster on the Midtown situation said something I didn't see elsewhere: that CMP supposedly said they couldn't provide enough power for the project as it was. I don't know if that's the developer BSing or not, but that's what it said.

ETA: The article is here:

Patrick Venne, the Midtown senior project manager, on Monday said the dispute arose when the company sought an opinion on how it might change the mixed-use project to include two hotels. The change would eliminate 180 housing units in the buildings planned as Midtown 1 and Midtown 4....

Venne said the May 21 letter was a "soft request" based on changes to the housing market and the lack of Central Maine Power infrastructure needed to service residences in the area.
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(Emphasis added)
 
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Patrick must be going nuts over this! I'd like to hear his unofficial views on all of this. Should we start making bets as to whether or not that Midtown gets built at all? I think in it's current plan / form it's friggin' hideous.
 
SHAZBAT73 said:
Patrick must be going nuts over this! I'd like to hear his unofficial views on all of this. Should we start making bets as to whether or not that Midtown gets built at all? I think in it's current plan / form it's friggin' hideous.
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Might be better that this one dies. It was great as originally planned, but now it's too low rise and hideous. Hopefully, this is just a bad phase for the City of Portland and it gets its act together eventually.
 
Well there was that article last week saying with all the new hotel rooms, rates are still crazy. Maybe we can use more. Why not mixed use like residential on top?

We really need a lot more working people in city . It is starting to get scary. Shady people everywhere
 
In normal, thriving cities with lots of workers, these workers work in office buildings, taller ones, i.e., 30 stories and higher. Bigger companies won't fit in little 5-10 story buildings, so there is no room for substantial growth in Portland. Until Portland gets out of its provincial and anti-growth mindset, it will primarily be a tourist stop. And if there is an economic collapse, Portland will suffer a lot more than a city like Boston, which has its world leading educational institutions, biotech, and internet based businesses. They don't have a problem building office space for companies. Boston is positioning to become one of the great international cities. However, I do see the 30 story building coming to Portland one day. Portland is too good of a location being a short train ride to Boston and such a fun place to not attract a big company one day. (probably a large dotcom one) Perhaps its in 15 to 20 years, when the 55-75 age mindset dies off. (the last of the provincial minded, "the baby boomers")
 
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Does anyone know what the results were from the latest planning board meeting (JUL 15th)? I haven't seen anything yet in the Press Herald or in the Bangor Daily News. Hopefully the infill development on Carleton Street got the green light.
 
The Portland Company developers show their first images of the site:

Developers of a historic Portland property unveiled new images of their plan Wednesday, including original brick facades, new office space and a waterfront plaza.

But missing from the renderings was an industrial building that preservationists say needs to stay.

The former railroad equipment manufacturer’s erecting shop sits at the entrance to the Portland Co. complex and is among the eight buildings that the city’s Historic Preservation Board is recommending for preservation. In the drawings, however, the shop’s footprint is part of a public plaza that connects Fore Street to the Fore River.
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Also, in the comments someone mentions that the original proposal for Canal Plaza was going to go all the way to Commercial... does anyone remember that? It was before my time, but it would explain how everything between Union St. and Fox Court was cleared.

It occurs to me that if this project doesn't go through, perhaps it would be just for someone to revitalize The Portland Company as a 24/7 iron foundry (with the constant CLANGing from the old days), reconnect the railroad tracks and reindustrialize the area.
 
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I got it, people out there love their views. But prohibiting a development that blocks part of your view I think is narrow sighted and selfish.
 
Off-peninsula boring (but relevant if one is interested in industrial expansion in Portland): a new lot is being cleared at 81 Industrial Way (near Allagash) for a 9,000+ sq ft. building.

Also, I found this link on the City website, that summarizes all the recent public notices for new construction, both Planning Board and staff review alike.

Incidentally, regarding blocking views, there's at least one building in town that was built specifically to block the view of the house behind it, and in that case it was done out of spite. So if this law had been in effect at the time, we might not have the Victoria Mansion today.
 
Plans were submitted recently for 158 Fore Street, which I believe is the former site of the watermark development (250 waterfront condos), and include phased project including a 6-story 150 room hotel with 16 condos.
 
89 Anderson Street:

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Seaport Lofts

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Marginal Way Strip Mall

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20 Marginal Way, Bangor Savings Bank via the PPH

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158 Fore Street, Proposed AC Hotel by Marriott via PPH

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As always - thanks for the update Corey. The hotel does look cool.

Question - What ever happened to the Old Port Market proposal? Remember the design competition with Archetype winning it? I haven't heard or read anything on it in a while.
 
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I haven't heard anything about that either. Maybe Archetype is working on a full plan now that they can bring to the planning board.

I'm liking the 101 York Street plans so far. A prime spot for people coming to Portland via the bridge.

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"New" architecture in Portland is now getting to be quite bland and it all looks the same. It wasn't long ago that some exciting buildings were built such as the 4 story glass addition to the Portland Harbor Hotel, and the CIEE building. A well designed glass building can complement an older, traditional building. 19th Century Trinity Church in Boston is wonderfully flattered sitting next to the 60 story glass Hancock Tower. The tower reflects the sky and the church from its giant mirrored panels. The skewed alignment to Copley Square also gives it a kind of gentle flirtation with the square, instead of slamming up to it in a parallel fashion. Portland is now getting lazy in its architectural mindset. It would be great to see some leadership on this. If the original Federated project's scale had been negotiated to achieve a higher design aesthetic, perhaps we would be seeing this now instead of the current compromised design. It's rather quite simple in my opinion, the problem here -- laziness. Great architecture does not always involve great expenditure.
 
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